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Multcolib
My
Librarian
Karen
S:
Alien
worlds
and
alien
minds

Annotation:An alien ship ventures into the Empires of Man, but its pilot is accidentally killed before the races can meet. But it is almost too late before humanity learns the true danger posed by these beings so alien in mind and, as it turns out, body.

Annotation:100 hardy experts arrive attempt to make Mars habitable by releasing underground water and oxygen into the atmosphere. Unfortunately, they are divided over whether this is a step up in human evolution or an ecological crime.

Annotation:Genetic engineering has permitted the development of a breed of humans tailored for zero-gravity--``quaddies'' with four grasping appendages instead of two arms and two legs. Now the development of artificial gravity has made them obsolete.

Annotation:Centuries after nuclear apocalypse, Lilith discovers the Oankali have rescued her from earth. The price? Interbreeding with their tentacled race who have drastically different ideas about gender and race.

Annotation:Might an alien language affect not only thought patterns but ways of life? When through contact with other species, one of the Hosts of Embassytown learns to lie, the results are almost physically damaging to their society. A dense but heady read.

Annotation:Helva had been born human, but only her brain had been saved and implanted into the titanium body of an intergalactic scout ship. Can a machine have a soul? Longings? Gender? This 1970 work influenced many later works.

Annotation:In Brin's future, earthlings now consist of humans and "uplifted" chimpanzees and dolphins, who have now have the same or greater intelligence than humans. Will they work together to fight the great galactic corporations?

Annotation: A starship captain is transported 12000 years in the future into a sometimes scary, sometimes humorous world. Yes, there are uplifted chimps and sentient machines but also dog people and a society of anachronists who get it almost all wrong.

Description

Do you like your science fiction to take a big "What If?" to the farthest extremes in the remotest future possible? Try this mix of mind-bending reads old and new and find alien worlds and races beyond the standard TV and movie fare.
Karen S.